Home >
News & Media >
Citrus growers turn to Congress for help after administration request leaves them out

Citrus growers turn to Congress for help after administration request leaves them out

News-Press – November 29, 2017

WASHINGTON — A top U.S. Agriculture official told a congressional panel Wednesday his agency is willing to explore ways of improving crop insurance options for Florida’s battered citrus industry but that may be of little comfort to growers mulling whether to stay in business following Hurricane Irma’s destruction in September.

“They are at the end of their rope,” Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fl., said during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on agriculture assistance attended by several Florida growers. “We have a crop insurance problem that needs to be addressed … But that does not help the people who are sitting behind you right now. What these growers need is help from their government.”

Rooney was making his comments to Rob Johansson, Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation.

Johansson told lawmakers that finding ways to improve insurance coverage and boost subsidies in the next Farm Bill “is something that we are more than open to talk to producers about.”

The hearing came less than two weeks after Florida’s decimated citrus industry was left out of the Trump administration’s latest request to Congress for disaster relief, leaving growers without the assistance they’ve been counting on to rescue their livelihoods after Hurricane Irma tore through their groves.

The lack of orange aid in the $44 billion request disappointed and angered Sunshine State growers who had thought their patience would be rewarded after Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue toured ravaged groves and promised help following Irma’s destruction.

Instead, the administration’s request only contained $1 billion for agriculture, none of which is available for Florida citrus farmers who estimate their losses from Irma at $761 million.

Making matters potentially worse is that Johansson tallied total crop losses for Florida at $895 million, less than half the $2 billion estimate Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam delivered to the state’s congressional delegation last month.

Johansson said the federal estimates are not completed as they await further damage assessments.

It’s not just a Florida problem: hurricane-affected states and territories (Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Puerto Rico and U.S Virgin Islands) are collectively asking for $10.5 billion in agriculture assistance but the USDA estimate for crop losses in those areas combined is about $2 billion.

“That’s a huge disparity and one of the reasons there’s been bipartisan disappointment over the administration’s request,” Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., told Johansson. “Why would the request be so inadequate when the needs obviously are so much greater?”

Growers are in town to meet with USDA officials and lawmakers to stress the urgency of the situation. A number are said to be contemplating an exit from the industry, especially after enduring years of crop losses from citrus greening. The disease has decimated Florida’s citrus crop.

Citrus farmers are in a particular bind because insurance for their oranges and grapefruits is not as comprehensive as it is for other crops, Rooney said. Growers don’t get a penny unless they’ve lost at least half their crop and then they often get no more than 50 cents on the dollar for the portion above 50 percent. So, citrus farmers who lost everything can recover no more than a quarter of the value of their losses, he said.

After the hearing, Rooney said he’s encouraged that Johansson acknowledged the shortcomings of the insurance program but frustrated because the administration did not include anything for citrus in the aid request. And he doesn’t believe citrus will be part of future disaster aid requests from the White House.

“I don’t think we’re going to get another crack at the apple with them,” Rooney said. “This is now an issue for our leadership.”

The congressman said he’s talking to lawmakers about adding the citrus aid to the disaster bill but has received no assurances yet.